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TheNipigonRiver“
TheNipigonBasin
HistoryoftheArea
1000-1600 Aboriginals are well established in the area.
1650 Europeans arrive and are in awe at the limitless supply of beavers, otters and muskrats. Became huge center for fur trade.
1850 Ojibway sign the Robinson Superior Treaty
1900s First log drive attempted down the Nipigon river. Full log drives occurred from 1923-73.
Late 1800s The Nipigon Region begins to be identified as a beautiful area internationally. CPR is built through Nipigon. The region is now connected to the rest of the country.
WW1 Commercial fishing begins. Construction of hydro dams begin along the Nipigon R. Hydro dams were constructed until the 1950s.
1916 World Record Brook Trout Caught (14.5 lbs)
1943 Ogoki river diversion begins. Increased flow of Nipigon R. by 50%
Theodore Roosevelt
2001 Nipigon places a special focus on sustaining bald eagle population in area.
1940 Long Lake Diversion.
H.R.H. Edward Prince of Wales
HistoryofDamsintheNipigonRegion
• CameronFallsDam–1920• AlexanderDam–1930• PinePortageGeneraDngStaDon–1950
LongLakeandOgokiDiversions
Purpose of the Projects
ToeasefearsthatenergyshortagesintheUnitedStateswouldhinderindustrialproducDonofmaterialfortheWorldWarIIdefenseeffort
a)LongLakeDiversionMovewaterfromtheAlbanyRiver/JamesBaysystemintotheGreatLakes
KenogamiRivernowflowssouthintotheAguasabonRiverintoLakeSuperior
EarlyfuncDonwasInterbasinpulpwoodtransportaDon plusPowergeneraDonintheSt.Mary’s,Niagara
andtheSt.LawrenceRivers.
History of the projects
In1940,theUnitedStatesagreedtouse143m3/sofwateratNiagaraFallsinOntario,ifCanadawouldrapidlyconstructtheOgokidiversionandconDnuewithLongLake.
b)OgokiDiversion
TodivertnortheastwardflowingOgokiRiversouthwardthroughLakeNipigonandintotheGreatLakessystem.
Toprovideanaverage113m3/sflowincrementofwaterforpowerproducDonatgeneraDngstaDonsontheNipigon, St.Mary’s, Niagaraand St.Lawrencerivers.
The Process of the OgokiDiversion
ConstrucDonofadiversiondamatWabooseRapidsØ CausedwaterlevelsatOgokiRivertorise12m.Ø FloodedrivervalleyandMojikitLakeuptotheheightofthelandØ There,a0.4kmdiversionchannelwasexcavated
TheSummitControlDamregulatessoutherlyflowsØ ThedivertedwaterenlargestheLi^leJackfishRiverwhich
dischargesintoOmbabikaBayatthenorthendofLakeNipigon
Ø TreeswerenotclearedfromthereservoirpriortoinundaDon.
TheprojectbecameoperaDonalinJuly1943.
SummitDam
WabooseDam
Diversion Effects
Biophysical Changes
ErosioninReservoirs,DiversionChannelsanddownstreamWaterBodies Erosionhasledto... à Increasedturbidity à Degradedwaterquality à Damagedprivateproperty&
culturalarDfacts Impairedhabitatsforfish
Biophysical Changes (cont)
Treesareinornearreservoirs,diversionchannelsandLakeNipigonFailuretocleartreeshasledto...v Excessdebris
(Willtake100sofyearstodisappearby naturaloxidaDon)
v ParDallysubmergedstandingtreesCausesnavigaDon&shorelineaccesshazards
v DegradednaturalaestheDcs
Biophysical Changes (cont) (((cont)
v DrownedvegetaDon
v Createsahazardforcommercialfishing
v Longtermimpactonfishhabitatsisunclear
v SDllanabundantpopulaDonofwalleyeandpikeinOgokiReservoir
v MercurylevelsinfishfleshareaboveacceptablelevelsforconsumpDon
v Noevidenceofdetrimentaleffectsonmoose,caribouorotheranimalslivinginthewatershed.
Socioeconomic Change
EconomicBenefitsfromHydroelectricityofLongLake&OgokiDiversions- 1943to1974àprofitsexceeded220milliondollars.
Socioeconomic Change • CreditforDivertedWater- Canada’srighttothedivertedwaterwasmadepermanentbythe1950Niagara
RiverTreaty.- 1943to1972àdiversionsaveraged18.7m3/smorethanexpected.- Underthetreaty,Canadacanuseonlyhalfofthesurplus(9.3m3/s).- TheUnitedStatesagreedinprincipalthattherightsofwaterdivertedintothe
GreatLakesshouldbevestedinthecountryfromwhoseterritoryitcomes.- ThisagreementwasnotapprovedbytheU.S.Senate.
- Canadadoesnotreceivecreditforabout9.3m3/sofwateratNiagaraandfor
halfofthedivertedwaterintheSt.Mary’sandSt.Lawrencerivers.(TheresultoffailingtocreateaninternaDonalGreatLakesBasinwateragreement.)
ProposedLi^leJackfishRiverHydroelectric
TheAboriginalsPresentConflict� ConflictbetweentheWhitesandIndianBandand
OntarioHydroconcerningtheproposedLi^leJackfishHydroelectricProject.
� WhitesandIndianBandisafraidofthesameeffecttheOgokiDiversionhadontheircommunity.
� TheproposedLi^leJackfishHydroelectricProjecthasthepotenDalofdamagingtheriversystembyfloodinganddestroyingtheland.
TheAboriginalsAcDonsTaken• June4,1990,OntarioHydroandtheChiefandCouncilofthe
WhitesandIndianbandannouncedacomprehensivelanduseandharvesDngstudy.
• Highlightsfromthestudyincludedtheeconomic,social,cultural,andspiritualimportanceoflivingofftheland.
• ConflictsbetweenWhitesandIndianBandandOntarioHydrodealtwithinafairandeffecDvemanner.
• TheLi^leJackfishRiverHydroelectricProjecthasnotstartedconstrucDon.
Hydro-ElectricDamsandTheirEffectonFishPopulaDons
ProblemsAssociatedwiththeDammingoftheNipigonRiver
• Briefhistoryofthehydro-electricdams
• ProblemswithwaterlevelfluctuaDons
• EffectsonfishpopulaDons
ProblemsAssociatedwithWaterLevelFluctuaDons
• WaterlevelfluctuaDonsnecessarytoregulateflowtodams
• Resultedinfloodingofsurroundinglandandlakes
• Erosionofstreambanksandsedimentload
• NegaDvelyaffectedfishpopulaDons:migraDngandspawningpa^erns.
EffectsoftheDamsonFish
• ConstrucDonofdamshasreducedmigraDonandaffectedspawning
• GreatestimpactonBrookTrout• FluctuaDngriverlevelsin
combinaDonwithcompeDDonfromotherintroducedfishspecies,andextensivefishingcausedpopulaDonstodropsignificantly
• 1989rehabilitaDonprogramputintoeffect
• PopulaDonsareimprovingsinceimplementaDonofprogram.
Map of Dams